


A Serious Matter

by cosima_geekmonkey_niehaus



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-13 08:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2144460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosima_geekmonkey_niehaus/pseuds/cosima_geekmonkey_niehaus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth and Cosima meet for the first time to discuss the fact that they are clones. Canonverse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Serious Matter

Beth sat on the couch in her living room, slightly anxious, but ready to get down to business. She had been working on this mystery for weeks, ever since Katja had contacted her. It had taken days for it all to sink in initially, and then several more once she had started discovering information about the rest of the North American clones.

Alison had been her first choice to break the news to - after all, she lived so close, it was a wonder they had never ran into each other before. She had been difficult to deal with, refusing to meet up until Beth had finally cornered her in a parking lot, forcing Alison to face their reality. It was still touch-and-go with Alison on most days, but she was at least beginning to return her phone calls and emails, so Beth had decided to turn to the next clone.

Her second choice had been Sarah Manning: also local, although she was originally from England. Beth had been hesitant about contacting her at first, considering her police record and all, but she had reconsidered once Katja had informed her of the killer hunting down the clones in Europe. It might’ve been useful to have a lowlife grifter on their side. However, upon further attempts to contact Sarah, Beth had realized she had effectively disappeared, so she had to move on.

Finding out that the European clones were being hunted and killed caused Beth to work harder and faster to contact other clones, but she ran into a lot of roadblocks. Tony's friend Sammy kept interfering, trying to get information out of Beth before letting her speak to Tony. In the case of Jennifer, she was impossible to contact, having been taken into Dyad after her illness began progressing. Beth had been left with only one option.

Now Beth was sitting in her home, about to welcome in an American version of herself, a very late version at that. She had said she would be there at noon, and it was already half past; the anxiety was building inside of Beth, aware of the clone hunter and Katja’s illness and all the dangers that faced them.

Finally, there was a knock on the door; Beth got up, straightened out her pants, and put on a pleasant face before walking over to the door. When she opened it, she was greeted by what could definitely be considered the most eccentric version of herself she had come across. This clone had long dreadlocks pulled into a ponytail, thick eyeliner behind dark glasses, a nose ring, and a visible tattoo on her wrist. She greeted Beth with a big smile and a small wave before Beth ushered her inside.

Once she had locked the door, Beth turned and held out her hand. “Nice to finally meet you. I’m Beth.” The other woman’s smile faltered slightly at the formality of the greeting, but she returned the handshake regardless.

"Yeah, totally. I’m Cosima, of course."

Beth broke off the handshake, and went back to her spot on the couch, gesturing for Cosima to sit down opposite her. Cosima took off her jacket, throwing it over the back of the chair, tucked her foot underneath her, and sat down. She stared back at Beth, a mixture of curiosity and excitement on her face.

"So it’s really true," Cosima said, her big smile returning. "We’re clones. This is totally awesome. I mean scientifically this is the perfect nature versus nurture experiment, just look at us, we have the same genetics, the same starting point, but we turned out completely different."

“Yes it's fascinating,” Beth said, her polite smile not extending to her eyes, which looked at Cosima anxiously, “but I have some more pressing information to share. It's pretty serious actually.”

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, go on," Cosima said with a wave of her hand. She fidgeted a little in her seat as Beth took a deep breath, figuring out how to break the news.

"Well, as I mentioned, I've been in contact with Katja-" Beth began.

"The German, right, right," Cosima interrupted, nodding her head.

Beth brushed off the interruption, but her irritation with Cosima was beginning to grow. "Yes," she continued. "Anyway, Katja has been in contact with a number of, um, others in Europe, and she wants to come over here as soon as possible. I told her about you, that you're a scientist, and she is adamant about getting blood samples from her and the other Europeans to you as soon as possible."

"Oh yeah totally," Cosima said, breaking out in a smile again. "It'll be awesome to take a look at our DNA comparatively, I mean it should all be the same because we're clones, but there might be some interesting information, maybe compared to non-clone genomes or something. Yeah, this sounds like a great idea, I'm definitely in."

Beth clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, unable to hide her irritation. "The samples aren't just for some fun experiments, Cosima. Katja is sick, some sort of respiratory illness, and she wants you to figure out what it is."

Cosima's smile faded, but her eyes maintained the same enthusiasm. "Well okay, I could run some tests, it shouldn't be too hard. But is she thinking this could be genetic? I mean why else would she be coming to me instead of a doctor. I'll look into the samples, compare hers with the rest and see if we are all at risk." Cosima took note of Beth's anxious face. "Don't worry, I can get a sample from you too. But I wouldn't worry before we know what we're dealing with because there is no guarantee we will all get sick, even if it is genetic. Don't worry though, I know what I'm doing, I can take care of it."

"That's not it," Beth said, rubbing her hand across her forehead nervously. "Katja also said that someone is hunting down the clones in Europe."

Cosima stared at Beth for a moment, before tilting her head and laughing. "Bullshit. There's no way, you're pulling my leg."

"I'm serious Cosima," Beth said, leaning forward to convey the importance of what she was saying. "Katja said that Janika suddenly stopped contacting her, so she went to meet with her and found her dead. So she then went to meet up with Aryanna, and she too was dead. Now she has Danielle on high alert, but they're both very worried."

Cosima narrowed her eyes at Beth. "But if the Europeans are being killed off, how am I supposed to analyze their samples?"

Beth leaned back and threw her arms up in frustration. "I just told you that we may be in danger of being hunted down and killed, and you're worried about a few blood samples."

"Well that's what you wanted me to help you with isn't it?" Cosima asked, folding her arms and staring at Beth, her eyebrows raised. "Excuse me for wondering how I'm going to do the job you've requested from me when all my subjects are dead."

"They're not your subjects, Cosima," Beth nearly yelled, on the brink of anger. "This isn't some cool science project, this is our lives. Your life. Take it seriously."

Cosima got up and grabbed her coat. "Whatever. Sorry I was trying to look on the bright side of our situation. I find it's a lot easier to go through life focusing on potential scientific discoveries instead of worrying about whether or not I'm being hunted. That's just ridiculous." Cosima walked to the door, but stopped before opening it. "If Katja can get me samples, I'll take care of them. But I'm not going to stress myself out if I don't have to." She then opened the door and left, without another word.

Beth put her head in her hands, frustrated by Cosima's unwillingness to take this whole thing seriously. Sure, she was going to look at the samples, but it all still seemed like a big game for her, not a life or death situation. Beth wanted to just write her off, but she knew she would have to work to make her understand the severity of what was going on, for the sake of Cosima, the other clones, and herself.

Beth decided to give Cosima some time to take everything in before contacting her. Maybe a few days of silence would do her good, or maybe Cosima would decide to contact Beth, realizing the depth of the siutation. Either way, it was important for them all that Cosima realize this was a serious matter.


End file.
